LATE buying in utilities and plantation counters has pushed Bursa Malaysia to end at an intra-day high today, in line with the recovery in most Asian markets, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 18.19 points or 1.16% to 1,589.05 from Thursday’s close of 1,570.86.
The index opened 0.23 of-a-point better at 1,571.09 today and also moved to as low as 1,565.74 throughout the day.
Market breadth was positive with gainers thumping losers 563 to 456, while 452 counters were unchanged, 726 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover rose to 6.31 billion units worth RM4.77 bil from 4.26 billion units worth RM2.74 bil yesterday.
TNB and Sime Darby Plantation were among the top contributors to the benchmark index’s upturn after rising 49 sen and 29 sen each to RM10.44 and RM4.40.
A dealer said the local market reacted positively from the latest discussion between Prime Minister Tan Sri Mahiaddin Md Yassin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi on Thursday in efforts to revive Malaysia-Egypt bilateral relations and cooperation, especially in the political and economic context.
In a statement today Mahiaddin said the discussion, which was held for the first time via a video conference, also touched on issues of mutual interest, especially in fostering greater cooperation in economy, trade, education, tourism and infrastructure development.
Egypt is Malaysia’s largest trading partner in the North African region with a trade value of RM2.06 bil last year, Mahiaddin said.
As one of the largest importers of Malaysian palm oil in Africa, he said the platform was also used to encourage Egypt to not only continue to import the commodity from this country but also increase imports in future.
Another dealer said most of the local market also seemed to gain momentum following news reports that the Government is looking at the possibility of introducing new initiatives that can further mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on both the people and businesses.
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said on Thursday that these initiatives would be rolled out throughout the entire duration of the country’s National Recovery Plan (NRP) where necessary.
“We do have several relief measures in the pipeline that we cannot reveal right now. These initiatives will be announced when we reach the final phase of the NRP,” he said.
In the meantime, heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) was 3.0 sen higher at RM8.20, Public Bank Bhd went up 1.0 sen to RM4.20, IHH Healthcare Bhd added 18 sen to RM5.86, but Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd slipped 8.0 sen to RM8.00 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd declined 3.0 sen to RM4.60.
Of the actives, Fintec Global Bhd and Vsolar Group Bhd earned half-a-sen each to 3.5 sen and 2.0 sen respectively, while MMAG Holdings Bhd eased half-a-sen to 18.5 sen and Euro Holdings Bhd shed 11 sen to RM1.10. – June 18, 2021
